Department of Health and Social Care

Public Health Update

Andrea Leadsom: Today, the UK government with the devolved administrations have published our response to the UK-wide consultation, Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping. Tobacco is the single most important entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the UK a year and 1 in 4 of all UK cancer deaths. Smoking is one of the biggest drivers of health inequalities across the country. The majority of smokers know about the risks of smoking and want to quit but are unable to due to the addictive nature of tobacco. 4 in 5 smokers start before the age of 20 and are then addicted for life. Smoking costs the country £17 billion a year, including £14 billion cost to productivity, and equivalent to 6.9p in every £1 of income tax received. In comparison, the tax raised in duty revenue is only around £10.2 billion per year. Smoking puts a significant pressure on the NHS and wider health and social care services. Moreover, while the evidence is clear that vapes can be an effective tool to help smokers to quit, we are incredibly worried about the alarming levels of illicit youth vaping – rates have tripled in the last three years with around one in five 11-17-year-olds in Great Britain now having tried vaping. Vaping carries the risk of future harms and nicotine addiction and, therefore, is never recommended for children. Despite this, it is clear that vapes are being deliberately targeted and marketed at them. It is essential that we take action to protect future generations from the harms of smoking and stop youth vaping. That is why on 12 October DHSC published a Command Paper, Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation. Following this, we published a consultation, together with the devolved administrations to gather evidence and views to inform future legislative measures and next steps. The consultation ran for eight weeks from 12 October 2023 to 6 December 2023. We received nearly 28,000 valid responses to the consultation from a wide range of stakeholders across the UK. A clear majority of responders (63.2%) supported the ambitious proposal to create the first smokefree generation – one of the most significant public health measures in a generation. The UK government and devolved administrations response to the consultation therefore sets out our plan to introduce legislation as soon as possible. Legislation will introduce measures to:Change the age of sale for all tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products whereby anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never legally be sold tobacco products alongside prohibiting proxy sales and changing warning notices in retail premises.Stop vapes from being deliberately targeted at children, while continuing to support adult smokers to quit using vapes to help. It will introduce new regulatory-making powers to restrict flavours, point of sale and packaging for vaping products (nicotine and non-nicotine) as well as other consumer nicotine products. Any restrictions will be taken forward in subsequent secondary legislation, which will be subject to further consultation.Introduce new fixed penalty notices for England and Wales to the value of £100 for underage sale, proxy sale and free distribution of tobacco and vapes (nicotine and non-nicotine), and regulate to extend these provisions to other consumer nicotine products. Additionally, the consultation confirms that the UK Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government intend to introduce legislation to implement a ban on the sale and supply of disposable vapes. The UK Government will work with the devolved administrations to explore an import ban. Northern Ireland officials acknowledge the issues raised during the consultation and will consider potential legislation in future. These legislative measures sit alongside a package of support to help current smokers quit – including doubling the funding for local authority stop smoking services. They also sit alongside additional enforcement funding. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Border Force have published a new illicit tobacco strategy, ‘Stubbing Out the Problem’, setting out their continued commitment to reduce the trade in, and demand for, illicit tobacco, and to tackle and disrupt the organised crime groups behind the illicit tobacco trade. The strategy sets out the new root and branch approach – which targets the demand for illicit trade (the consumers that criminals seek to exploit) as well as the supply (the criminals themselves). It is supported by new funding over the next five years which will be used to boost HMRC and Border Force enforcement capability. The strategy also establishes a new, cross-government Illicit Tobacco Taskforce – combining the operational, investigative and intelligence expertise of various agencies, and enhancing HMRC’s ability to disrupt organised crime. I am grateful to the many people who took time to respond to the consultation which helped us accurately consider this policy. The consultation response has been published on Gov.UK.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Election Finance Regulation

Simon Hoare: In July 2023, the Government confirmed its intention [HCWS985] to proceed with uprating reserved and excepted party and candidate spending limits and donations thresholds to reflect historic inflation in the years since the respective limits were set between the years 2000 and 2020. The intention to review these thresholds was set out in December 2020, and the Parliamentary Parties Panel was consulted.Today, the Government has laid before Parliament legislation completing the uprating of candidate spending limits by uprating the limits for candidates at Greater London Authority elections and local authority mayoral elections. The latter will align with the planned new spending limits for Combined Authority and Combined County Authority mayoral elections, ensuring parity between mayoralties.The uprating of election spending limits is necessary as many of the statutory limits, set in absolute terms, have not been uprated in recent times. Some have not changed since 2000, as is the case for Greater London Authority elections. The lack of change in absolute terms impacts campaigning ability, given the increased costs of printing, postage and communication, which is vital for parties and candidates to engage with voters.Parliament anticipated this, which is why the legislation allows for these limits to be adjusted to account for inflation. The Government’s policy is to increase them so that they are the same in real terms as the original limits set by Parliament.Furthermore, violence and intimidation cannot be tolerated and will have absolutely no place in our public life. The Elections Act 2022 provides for new measures to tackle intimidation in elections, building on the wider work to address intimidation in public life (as outlined in the written statement of 9 March 2021, HCWS833).No one should feel afraid to participate in our democracy. To provide clarity on the issue of whether security expenses fall to be regulated under electoral law, the legislation laid today also explicitly exempts reasonable security expenses from contributing to spending limits for political parties, candidates and other campaigners at reserved and excepted UK elections. This will ensure that these limits are not a barrier to providing adequate security during election campaigns.Many parties and agents already take the view that money spent on the security of a candidate is clearly not money spent promoting that candidate to the electorate; however, the Government believes there are merits in explicitly stating this in law to provide greater clarity.Together, with the other recent instruments the Government has made, these measures will support continued democratic engagement by political parties and candidates, and facilitate continued freedom of expression whilst ensuring our elections remain safe, free and fair.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Grassroots Sports Projects

Stuart Andrew: We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier, which is why we have set out our ambitious Get Active Strategy to get over 3.5 million people more active by 2030, including 1 million young people. Delivering on this strengthens our communities, makes us healthier both physically and mentally, and creates a more prosperous society.To achieve this, it is vital that everyone, regardless of their background or location, has access to world-class sports facilities. That is why we continue to support, sustain and grow community and grassroots sport with this historic level of investment.As part of this commitment, HM Government is delivering historic investment to improve and upgrade multi-sport pitches and facilities across the whole UK. Our investment of over £320 million between 2021 and 2025 will help to level up grassroots facilities, target those communities most in need, and increase participation in sport among under-represented groups, for example women and girls and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. In fact, any project in England receiving a grant over £25,000 must provide an equal access usage plan for women and girls. At least 50% of this funding is going directly to the most deprived areas across the UK and over 40% of projects are also supporting a sport other than football to spread the benefits as widely as possible.Since 2021, over £200 million has been invested in over 1,800 projects up and down the country, improving the natural and artificial grass pitches on offer to communities and upgrading floodlights, goalposts, changing rooms and toilet facilities. These are all delivered in partnership with the Football Foundation in England and the Football Association in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Combined with funding from the FA and Premier League in England, our investment is delivering real change in the communities that need it most across the UK - from Fermanagh to Rhondda, and Grimsby to Motherwell.On Saturday we announced the sites which have received a share of £93 million in 2023/24 so far - over 1,100 projects delivering vital improvements to grassroots facilities and increasing opportunities to play for under-represented groups. A full list of the projects can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2023-to-2024 and have been placed in the Libraries of the House.With a further Government investment of over £120 million to come next year, including £25 million towards the £30 million Lionesses Futures Fund to get girls playing, we will continue to build on this historic investment. We are committed to inspire future generations of sporting talent, increase participation in physical activity, and level up facilities across the UK.

Press Policy

Lucy Frazer: Statement on Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport’s decision to intervene in the anticipated acquisition of Telegraph Media Group Ltd by RB Investco Ltd My Department has written to solicitors acting for the Barclay family and RedBird IMI, the current and proposed owners of Telegraph Media Group (TMG), to inform them of my decision to issue a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) in relation to the anticipated acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group Ltd (TMG) by RB Investco Limited.This is further to information my Department received last week that Redbird IMI have made changes to the corporate structure of the potential acquiring entities of the Telegraph Media Group, and this has created a new Relevant Merger Situation.This PIIN relates to concerns I continue to have that there may be public interest considerations – as set out in section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002 – that are relevant to the anticipated acquisition of TMG by RedBird IMI and that these concerns warrant further investigation.At this stage, my decision to issue the PIIN triggers the requirement for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to report to me on jurisdictional and competition matters; and for Ofcom to report to me on the media public interest considerations in section 58(2A) of the Enterprise Act 2002 – namely, the need for accurate presentation of news and free expression of opinion in newspapers. Having consulted the CMA and Ofcom on the time they need to conduct the necessary investigations, I have asked them to report to me by 9.00am GMT on 11 March 2024.My Department has also written to Ofcom and CMA on 26 January 2024 to extend the deadline by when I expect to receive their reports in relation to the PIIN I issued on 30 November 2023. I now expect them to report to me on this PIIN also by 9.00am GMT on 11 March 2024. This means the 30 November PIIN and the associated Pre-emptive Action Order which I made on 1 December 2023 both remain in force.I reserve the right to take such further action under the Act as I consider appropriate, which may include exercising my powers under section 42 of the Act in relation to any other relevant merger situation. My decision to issue a PIIN is without prejudice to my ability to take any such additional action in accordance with the Act.My role as the Secretary of State in this process is quasi-judicial and procedures are in place to ensure that I act independently and follow a process which is scrupulously fair, transparent and impartial.DCMS will update Parliament after both reports from the regulators have been received and considered.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Update to reference to the UK Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard in regulations

Andrew Bowie: My noble friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Callanan) has today made the following statement:I am making this statement to fulfil the commitment to inform Parliament via a Written Ministerial Statement whenever the ambulatory reference to the UK Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard (the Standard) in the Hydrogen Production Revenue Support (Directions, Eligibility and Counterparty) Regulations 2023 (“the Regulations”) is updated. A new version of the standard (version 3) has now been published.The Energy Act 2023 (“the Act”) makes provision for the implementation of the Hydrogen Production Business Model (HPBM) which is intended to provide revenue support to overcome the cost gap between low carbon hydrogen and higher carbon counterfactual fuels. The HPBM is designed to incentivise the production and use of low carbon hydrogen, supporting the UK’s net zero and energy security ambitions.Section 57(1) sets out the overarching power for the Secretary of State to make regulations in relation to revenue support contracts. There are a number of provisions in Chapter 1, Part 2 of the Act which set out the matters which regulations made under section 57(1) may cover. The provision in section 66(5) of the Act enables revenue support regulations determining the meaning of “eligible” in relation to a low carbon hydrogen producer to make ambulatory reference to published documents, including standards, external to the regulations, i.e. as the documents have effect from time to time. Given the nascency of the hydrogen industry and the need for regulations underpinning the hydrogen production revenue support contracts to provide sufficient certainty to investors, the ability to make ambulatory reference in regulations provides flexibility to help ensure the scheme is in line with the latest technological developments to encourage ongoing innovation and investment. This approach also aligns with consultation feedback to ensure alignment with the UK Government’s definition of low carbon hydrogen when allocating support to projects under the Hydrogen Production Business Model.The Regulations were laid in draft in Parliament on 8 November 2023 and came into force on 20 December 2023. Bar certain exceptions for low carbon hydrogen producers who applied for financial support before the commencement date of the Regulations, the Regulations determine whether a low carbon hydrogen producer is “eligible” in relation to proposals it makes for the production of hydrogen produced in accordance with the low carbon hydrogen standard. The Regulations define “the low carbon hydrogen standard” as the document published by the Secretary of State in April 2023 entitled “UK Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard - Version 2” or such standard as may be from time to time published for the purposes of these Regulations by the Secretary of State. The Regulations provide that where the Secretary of State publishes a new or revised low carbon hydrogen standard for the purposes of the Regulations, the publication of the new or revised standard must include, or be accompanied by, a statement in writing that it is published to replace the previous version of the standard.The Standard sets a maximum threshold for the amount of greenhouse gas emissions allowed in the production process for hydrogen to be considered ‘low carbon hydrogen’. It sets out the methodology for calculating the emissions associated with hydrogen production using production pathways in scope of the standard, and the steps producers should take to prove that the hydrogen they produce is compliant with the Standard.On 13 December 2023, in the period between the Regulations being laid in draft and coming into force, version 3 of the Standard was published and focuses on ensuring that the requirements set out in the Standard are clear and can be effectively applied under hydrogen production revenue support contracts and other future schemes. More consistent language is used in version 3 for indicating requirements of the Standard, recommendations and permissible actions, and there has been restructuring and rationalisation of text for accuracy and conciseness. A key change to version 3 of the Standard is to include 'Gas Splitting Producing Solid Carbon' on the list of hydrogen production pathways that are within scope of the Standard. At the time of publication, it was made clear that it was intended that version 3 of the Standard would be the version for the purposes of the Regulations when the Regulations come into force.The Standard was republished on the 21 December 2023 to confirm version 3 replaces any previous versions of the Standard for the purposes of the Regulations. This means that currently version 3 of the Standard is the one that is to be used for assessing eligibility under the Regulations, bar certain exceptions as mentioned above.Further details on the Standard and the changes made can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-low-carbon-hydrogen-standard-emissions-reporting-and-sustainability-criteria.